Ask Lemmy

The Fifth Element is probably the only soundtrack I have ever bought. The diva's aria is AMAZING!

Shrek 2, unironically

Also Sucker Punch and Tron Legacy

The Abyss really does something for me, can’t quite put my finger on it

The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen has a fantastic soundtrack. Can really push a system to its limits.

Tron Legacy, but that's cheating as it's essentially a Daft Punk music video.

The Matrix
O Brother Where Art Thou?
Forest Gump

• Pirates of the Caribbean (personally, At World's End has the best, Hans Zimmer)
• The Lord of the Rings (Howard Shore)
• Gravity (Steven Price)
• Tron Legacy (Daft Punk)
• Moonlight (Nicholas Britell)
• Harry Potter (can only speak to the ones by John Williams)
• Braveheart (James Horner)
• The Matrix (Don Davis)

More general answer than you expected, but...

I really like when the sound design in movies makes sense - it "plays" in radio, gramophone...

For example "Black hole sun" cover in first episode of Westworld is just brilliant and caught me off guard (I didn't know what it is about).

Birdman. Just drums. Really fucking good drums. Also they appear in the middle of one scene in an excellent way.

Also: not a movie, but Cowboy Bebop. Lots and lots of great tracks.

Once upon a time the west. (Ennio Morricone)

Blade runner (Vangelis)

The Lord of the Rings

This is Howard Shore's Magnum opus. It's what distinguishes this movie as more than just a great adaptation. His use of themes to represent not only races and kingdoms but characters, objects (like the One Ring, of course), and even concepts is a level above most movie soundtracks. There are even elements of storytelling through the music!

For example, the first time we hear the theme for Gondor is when Boromir is in Rivendell. Since he's more or less alone, the theme is played by a single French Horn in a somber (almost tragic) style. In Return of the King, we see Minas Tirith, capital of Gondor, in all its glory, and so the full orchestra plays the theme.

One more: As the Fellowship begins to break down, so too does the theme. We go from heroic phrases to shorter, interrupted instances. There's a book about the soundtrack written by Doug Adams. I highly recommend it if you're interested!

I know you said movies, but a soundtrack for a show I'm hooked on currently is Legion (FX/Marvel, on Hulu). The whole entire show has an amazing cast to begin with, but Jeff Russo (Fargo, Star Trek Discovery, more) and Noah Hawley put together one hell of a score. I highly recommend it and the show.

The Blues Brothers - it's stringing together performances from famous musicians, and the soundtrack was successful as an album in its own right.

• Ray Charles
• James Brown
• Aretha Franklin
• Cab Galloway
• etc.

• Spawn
• Baby Driver
• Garden State
• the Lord of the Rings trilogy

I am quite fond of the recent Dune movies' soundtrack. Hans Zimmer can make a good bwowwwum, and a helping of One-Woman-Wailing :tm: also helps

Aside for that I would get into movie musical territory. A much derided subgenre that I adore.

Can't believe no-one mentioned The Crow..

A few not listed:

• The Crow
• Empire Records
• Leaving Las Vegas
• Get Shorty
• Grosse Pointe Blank
• ~~Pulp Fiction~~ (listed elsewhere)

Dazed and Confused

Reservoir Dogs, O Brother Where Art Though, Blues Brothers, From Dusk til Dawn,

• The Village

• O Brother Where Art Thou

• Amélie

• Pride and Prejudice

• Shutter Island

to name a few.

For me the criteria is: would the movie be very different with another soundtrack. The below offerings truly elevate their movies imo.

Tron Legacy

Blade Runner

Black Panther

I'm going to reframe this as who I think the best composers are:

Bernard Hermann, Vertigo, North by Northwest, Psycho, etc.

John Williams, E.T., Jurassic Park, Indiana Jones, Star Wars, etc.

Akira Ifukube, most of the Shōwa era Godzilla movies

Shiro Shigasu, Evangelion, Shin Godzilla

As far as new work, I'm partial to Scott Stafford on Ultraman Rising. It came out on Netflix this past June and I was really surprised how good that movie and soundtrack were.

I quite like the Interstellar soundtrack.

Akira(1988)

The soundtrack compliments the action so well.

The Life Aquatic With Steve Zissou

I'm probably biased since this is my fave Pixar movie, but WALL-E, I love Eve's theme the most it's so beautiful and has this futuristic and hopeful kind of vibe to it that I really love

28 Days Later

Trainspotting

Garden State....could not tell you a single thing about the film but when it was released, the soundtrack was full of my favorite artists at the time

Honorable mention: Most Wes Anderson films have pretty thoughtful soundtracks but I've never been blown away or introduced to a new band

Romeo and Juliet (the one with Claire Danes and Leo DiCaprio)

Pulp Fiction

Buena Vista Social Club

Help! (Or any of the Beatles movies)

Purple Rain

La Boum (French movie, 1980)

Fame and The Kids from Fame (the 1970's Original, not he reboot)

Blues Brothers

Watched Blade Runner 2049 2 days ago. Had a very good soundtrack but I wouldnt just listen to it just.

Personal favorites:
Tron: Legacy
Pacific Rim

The Fountain, Requiem for a Dream, or anything by Clint Mansell

The Matrix soundtrack is amazing

The Big Lebowski deserves a mention.

Good Will Hunting has a fantastic soundtrack.

The Third Man has that fantastic zither theme.

A Knight's Tale

Stranger Than Fiction, soundtrack by Spoon